Jason Beghe: Scientology Is Destructive And a Rip-off

[Lennon]

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07m-IvvpK2E

Television Star Exits Scientology
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351287,00.html

Ruggedly handsome actor Jason Beghe was best man at the wedding of "X-Files" star David Duchovny (his childhood pal) and actress Tea Leoni. In 1998, he starred as Demi Moore’s love interest in "G.I. Jane." He’s been featured in numerous TV dramas such as "Criminal Minds," "Numb3rs" and "CSI."

In 2005, Beghe appeared in promotional spots for the Church of Scientology. But now, Beghe has escaped the church after taking courses since 1994.

This is what he has to say: "Scientology is destructive and a rip-off."

He also says: "It’s very, very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological, mental, emotional health and evolution. I think it stunts your evolution. If Scientology is real, then something’s f---ed up."

[ColbertWatcher]

1. Good for him!

[guyanakoolaid]

2. It's a scam - no other religion withholds its knowledge without demanding payment

other religions often ask for 10% of a person's income, but their "knowledge" is not withheld without payment, unlike Scientology, where upfront payment must be made for each level of "learning". The ultimate joke comes at the end when you hear the ultimate story of Xenu and the space-ship-airplanes and souls in Hawaiian volcanoes and realize you paid thousands of dollars to hear it.

[ZombieHorde]

3. This is a pretty biased article, check out this line:

Beghe has escaped the church

They would not say he escaped the Catholic Church is was being raped by priests, they would say that he left the Church.

I am aware that the Church has done some horrible things, but isn't their (fox news) slogan; "fair and balanced"?

[tinrobot]

9. That's because Scientology is not a church, it's a cult.

You escape cults, you leave churches.

The source got it right.

[pingzing58]

4. Scientology is a self-help system of positive phrases it's cosmology is fucked up.

[5LeavesLeft]

5. I used to be a Class V auditor

in the Church of Scientology. Now, I'm an Enemy of the Church because I left. I still believe that the technology of Scientology has something to offer, maybe not to the extremes they claim, but you can be better off having been in it. This guy thought it was a good thing for 14 years. But the administration of Scientology, the people running the show, are messed up. They have loyalty standards and "ethics" standards that are intimidating and oppressive. They are not trying to achieve LRH's goals, they are trying to achieve income. They are trying to achieve control and submission. LRH always said everybody should be a trained auditor, but David Miscavige, the BIG CHEESE, has no auditor training. I really have no beefs with what Scientology has to offer, as with any other religions, if you feel better you feel better, period. But the Admin of Scientology, these people will screw you out of every dollar you have and pat themselves on the back after they after get it. And if you can't make your next mortgage, then you're "down stat" and "out-ethics".

[sakabatou]

8. I'd like to take an e-meter apart and see what it tests

Two members of my family are engineers, one's a doctor, so I'm sure they might figure out something.

[tinrobot]

10. It's a simple lie detector.

It measures body resistance.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Secrets/E-Meter/tbite.html

[5LeavesLeft]

11. Supposedly it measures mass

When your brain recalls a bad memory (engram)the mass that makes up the picture of that memory moves in, making it tougher for the current the e-meter is putting out to pass through your body. This means there's something there that's bothering you. It's not a lie detector. If lying doesn't bother you the e-meter won't measure a thing. It's a pretty simple device that retails for the low, low price of $4000, last time I looked. I'd say about $10 - $15 worth of parts. And you have to buy a backup meter (what if your meter runs out of batteries while going through the Wall of Fire!). And your wife can't use yours, she has to get her own so she can become familiar with it. And get her own backup. $$$$$

[moggie]

12. Do you know how a lie detector (polygraph) works?

...making it tougher for the current the e-meter is putting out to pass through your body

i.e. it's measuring the electrical resistance of your skin. This is precisely one of the things the polygraph (the so-called "lie detector") measures, because skin conductivity is one of the physiological responses which supposedly changes under stress (but less so with accomplished liars). So your e-meter is just a subset of the polygraph.

If recalling a memory changes your mass enough to detectably change your electrical resistance, that'd need the input of a lot of energy (remember, E = mc^2). Where does that energy come from?

[5LeavesLeft]

13. It's all stored in mental image pictures

in your mind, which is separate from the brain. You, the Thetan, look at pictures in your mind. Lie detectors look at sweating and heart and breathing rates, I believe. One thing we did for training was pretty cool. Someone would write down a time like 5,179,216,843 years 7 months 14 days 8 hours 23 minutes and 17 seconds. Then they'd "grab the cans" and you had to determine their number just using the e-meter. I was pretty good at it. It'd take me about 5 minutes to get a number like that.

[Silent3]

6. He must have been one of the lucky ones...

...who didn't divulge too much dirt that can be used against himself during "auditing". I'll bet there are plenty of others caught up in Scientology afraid to speak out because of the price they might have to pay if they do.

[sakabatou]

7. Not to mention several members have died under

"mysterious circumstances."